History of the Prior Art
In order to exercise and develop the arm and upper body muscles it has been well known to utilize hand held weights such as dumbbells and the like. There are, however, problems associated with hand held weight devices. Such weights must be grasped by the fingers and thumb and thus a person using a hand held weight is not free to utilize their hands for any other purpose but engaging the weights themselves. Because such weights restrict the use of the hands, such weights may be unsuitable for use while performing other exercises, playing sports, jogging or performing daily routine tasks. Therefore, hand held weights are generally limited to use during periods of conscious weight exercising.
In an effort to give a person more freedom of movement while still providing a means for increasing the tension or stress on the body muscles, weights have been designed to be worn or secured to a person's body. Body worn weights permit an increased stress or force to be exerted on the muscles during periods of normal activity and physical exercise and thus offer the advantage of being more useful in completely conditioning the muscles.
Heretofore various types of weights have been designed to be worn on different parts of the human body. Some examples of prior art body worn weight devices include: ankle weights as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. Des. 195,134 to Elmer Tarbox; weights worn around the wrist as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,924,851 to Herbert Winston, 4,427,101 to Richard Gallmeyer, 3,409,766 to Harris Gardner, and 4,250,914 to Ronald Lalli; belt worn weights such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,141 to Gilbert Smith; head weights such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,780 to Elmer Tarbox; and hand weights such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. Des. 200,415 to Elmer Tarbox, 4,326,706 to Phillip Guthrie et al., and 4,330,120 to James Netti.
Hand weights, such as those disclosed in the aforementioned patents to Guthrie and Netti, are used to develop and tone the arm and upper body muscles as a person moves his or her arms rhythmically during normal exercise, while jogging or while performing any other task. There are problems, however, associated with the use of such hand weights. As such weights are constructed in the form of gloves having portions which encircle the fingers, they restrict the movement of the fingers. Additionally, such gloves may cause discomfort to a person as the gloves prevent air circulation between the hand and glove and also tend to retain perspiration.
The type of handweights shown in the Tarbox design patent consists of a singular weight which is worn on the back of the hand and is secured by straps which extend around the hand and wrist. These weights tend to move or slip during exercise and must be continuously adjusted or repositioned on the hand. Such weights, therefore, may be somewhat awkward to use when jogging, performing aerobics, or otherwise exercising.